Chapter 2: Slaughter
Ignoring the increasingly enthusiastic shouts from afar, I hastily looked down.
My arms and chest were surrounded by ominous black smoke, while my upper body seemed to be clad in a black armor made of some unknown material, extending down to my thighs and leaving only my forearms exposed.
Below my legs, the black smoke intensified, radiating blinding white light, wrapping around me like a black battle skirt, concealing my legs and connecting to a boiling, tar-like black liquid.
As my gaze extended into the distance, beneath the bright blue sky, lush green hills and valleys connected to fertile meadows. Clusters of trees bearing red fruits stood tall and vibrant, while nameless silver flowers bloomed across the fields.
Such a beautiful catastrophe, yet a massive chasm spanning thousands of meters marred it all, with horrifying black liquid continuously spilling from the chasm, causing any plants it touched to wither and turn to black dust.
And here I was, standing right at the center of this chasm, atop the bubbling black slime.
I felt no discomfort. In fact… I might have been birthed from this terrifying liquid.
What—what is this?
Confusion engulfed me; before I could piece together my current situation, a second volley of fireballs came hurtling towards me, accompanied by the even more ear-piercing sound of air being torn apart.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!————
“Gah——”
The pain instantly rendered me unable to think, and my instincts kicked in, urging me to dodge these dangerous fireballs.
I bent my knees, hunched over, and leapt to the right.
The howling wind rushed past my ears, and when I regained my senses, I was already thirty or so meters away from where the fireballs had exploded.
Before I could be amazed, I immediately looked up in the direction the fireballs came from. About two or three hundred meters away, a legion clad in platinum armor caught my eye.
The formation of the legion was orderly and appeared to have a thousand or more members. Their armor had a solemn and holy design, reminiscent of ancient Western paladins.
Behind the knights stood two rows of individuals dressed in fire-red robes, resembling mages. These folks held up their magical instruments or staffs, muttering incantations as sparks flickered in the air, clearly preparing for their third assault.
At the very front of the legion were three men riding bizarre beasts. One sported particularly dazzling armor, another was a robed elder, and the last was a young man wrapped in a white cloak and donned in silver light armor, a longsword hanging at his waist—he eerily resembled a swordsman.
These three must be the leaders of the group.
Where is this? Who are they? Were those fireballs spells?
Everything in front of me screamed that this couldn’t possibly be the world I was familiar with. Had I really crossed over into a world of swords and magic?!
But why were they attacking me? Although it didn’t seem like I had suffered any real damage, it hurt like hell when those fireballs hit!
“Why—” I yelled at them, only to be horrified to find that the voice coming out of my mouth was not the one I was used to but rather a strange, metallic-sounding… female voice?!
The language was also not Chinese, but a pronunciation I had never heard before—yet I could form sentences from it smoothly and actually understand its meaning.
???????
“What’s happening to me?!” A series of baffling facts left me reeling as I called out again to the human knights.
No response.
The leading knight barked an order, signaling a third wave of fireballs to come crashing down upon me.
“Gah——!!” Just as I saw the incoming attack, a wave of helpless emotions overwhelmed me; I involuntarily swung my arm towards the approaching fireballs. Black smoke surged forth like a colossal serpent, accompanied by bluish-green flashes as it raced forward.
The oncoming fireballs were swallowed the moment they touched the black smoke, facing no impediment whatsoever as they continued toward the knights.
Seeing this, the knights on the other side seemed to panic. The leading knight shouted again, trying to respond, but the black serpent moved too fast, swallowing the left flank of their formation in the blink of an eye.
A chorus of wails erupted only to be abruptly silenced; anyone touched by the black smoke erupted into white wisps, emitting a cringe-inducing sizzling sound before being completely eroded, their armor turning to dust alongside them.
Pulses of azure-white smoke surged from where the knights had died, only to be drawn into the thick smoke, which then returned swiftly to me.
Hiss, hiss, hiss——
The moment the black smoke returned, my body was enveloped in white mist. I felt something surge within me, akin to the sensations from the black liquid but several times more intense. My entire body buzzed with exhilarating energy, a controlled frenzy surging through me, my body shaking uncontrollably. I could clearly feel my capabilities enhance dramatically, reaching new heights—they were almost addictively thrilling.
I felt like I’d taken a stimulant—an urge to unleash, unleash! I wanted to destroy everything within sight!
“Gah——!”
Just as the exhilarating feeling surged, it was abruptly doused by a violent headache that washed over me like a tide, overwhelming me with an influx of fragmented information.
What… What is happening? What have I done?
Ah—my head hurts so much…
The splitting pain in my skull brought me back to some semblance of clarity, and I realized what I had just done.
Did those people d*e? Did I k*ll?!
No, I couldn’t have done something like this—I wouldn’t!
“%￥%￥#￥……” The knight leader across from me was still shouting incomprehensibly.
The headache tortured me to the point of distraction. Clutching my head with both hands, I unintentionally emitted beast-like growls as chaotic information rushed into my mind.
In my daze, I vaguely saw the elder in the golden robe to my right clasping the emblem on his chest, whispering softly as golden light radiated from him, enveloping the knight corps in a brilliant glow.
The dazzling light didn’t last too long before the knights found themselves clad in a thin layer of golden film. With the leading knight issuing a thunderous command, the thousand knights charged forward with another wave of fire, their voices roaring in unison like a flood breaking its banks.
“Why! Why are you attacking me—?!”
Faced with the encroaching rain of fire and tide of knights, pain, anger, fear, grievances, and extreme confusion melded together, amplifying the chaos of emotions in my mind.
“Gah——!!” I let out an earth-shattering roar, wildly flailing my arms at the rampaging knights. The black smoke surged forth once more, transforming into countless black serpents that swirled around the charging knights, coalescing into a massive ball of white light with a savage black flame that crashed down.
“Boom——!”
A colossal explosion erupted at the center of the knight formation, the black flames instantly consuming numerous knights and igniting an even more blinding white light, painting the area within hundreds of meters as bright as day.
I found myself dazed, the headache easing slightly; however, the overwhelming realization that I’d just slaughtered hundreds of lives was too much to bear.
Even as the black smoke from the explosion continued to roam the battlefield, claiming lives with every passing second, the remaining knights charged at me with even greater ferocity, their frantic screams laced with despair drawing ever closer. In their bloodshot eyes, I even glimpsed an emotion called hatred.
Why? Why do they hate me?
What wrong have I committed?
“It… it wasn’t me! I didn’t… You attacked first… I didn’t want to k*ll you…”
Just when I was feeling lost and wished to flee, the black smoke returned once more. I was immediately taken over by the violent rush and manic emotions again, my body shaking uncontrollably.
Ah—hahahaha… How delightful!
How dare you, these weak ants, harm me without a second thought!
“Gah——!!”
I couldn’t suppress a long wail; my body moved on its own, launching like a cannonball with a long trail of black smoke, hurtling at the incoming enemies.
“Boom——!”
As I landed, dismembered limbs and severed arms rocketed into the air, tracing a beautiful arc before plummeting down, no longer qualifying as life. The intense stench of bl**d made me feel nauseous. Half a knight’s body landed in front of me, and I caught sight of his face frozen in a final expression of terror.
“Gah——!!” I swat away the half body of a knight with a loud shout. The black smoke erupted from within me, swirling like serpents around me, devouring the encircling knights.
In that moment, I finally realized that these knights, or rather, these humans, barely reached the height of my thighs.
Heh, so it turns out I’m not one of them.
Then what am I? A demon king?
No, I’m… a terrifying monster.
Swinging my arms, harvesting souls, the situation spiraled out of control, descending into a one-sided massacre. Anyone entering my line of sight would be severed in half by my sweeping arms.
The black serpents rampaged across the battlefield, azure-white light continuously flowing into me. Before long, a mountain of corpses piled up beneath my feet, the once lush meadows no longer vibrant, now drenched in crimson.
So disgusting.
So disgusting, so disgusting, so disgusting.
Make it stop…
Please make it stop.
Don’t k*ll anymore…
Suddenly, I felt a weight, followed by a wave of dizziness.
The elder in the distance clasped his hands before his chest, radiant with golden light, emanating an aura of unspeakable majesty.
The next moment, I felt as though a giant stone had fallen upon me, my body overwhelmingly heavy, my movements slowly becoming sluggish, even my breathing became labored. A violent wave of dizziness threatened to upend me, and I opened my mouth to expel a cloud of black mist.
Golden light fell upon me, and I struggled to lift my head, spotting a massive golden bell suspended high above.
